Archive for the ‘Pluta’ Category

The theme for Week 19 of the 2015 edition of the “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” challenge is “There’s a Way” and my ancestor is my 3rd great-grandmother, Franciszka Wojciechowska Pluta. I chose her because I’ve been making my weekly posts on Sunday, and today is Mother’s Day. Franciszka seems to have suffered a lot of hardships as a mother. But even in old age, she definitely found a way to be with her daughter – even if it meant traveling to America by herself.

Franciszka’s Story

Franciszka Wojciechowska was born on 01 October 1840 in the town of Mszczonów, Żyrardów County, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland (then under Russian rule). She was the first born child of Jan Wojciechowski and Karolina Dąbska who were married in January of that same year. Jan was a 24-year-old shoemaker and his wife was 21 at the time of their daughter’s birth.

Franciszka must have been a hearty child; unfortunately, most of her siblings did not live to adulthood. The next three children were all boys who died at 2 years old or less. Fortunately, the next four children – three other girls and a boy – all lived to adulthood.

When Franciszka was 22, she married Ludwik Pater, a shoemaker like her father (and his). Ludwik was also born in Mszczonów and they probably grew up together. Like her mother before her, she suffered much heartache when it came to having children: at least three children died as toddlers and another died at the age of 11. Only two lived to adulthood: daughter Antonina Rozalia (my great-great grandmother) and son Jan.

Sometime between 1880 and 1885, Ludwik died. I have been unable to find his death record despite the availability of online (and indexed) records for that time period. A son was born to the couple in 1880, but by the time of their daughter Antonina’s marriage in 1885 to Józef Pater, Ludwik is deceased.

After Antonina’s marriage, Franciszka may have moved with her to the town of Żyrardów eight miles away. Antonina suffered similar losses as her mother and grandmother – of ten children, four died as infants or toddlers. By 1905, Antonina’s husband made the decision to immigrate to the U.S. in search of better job opportunities (ironically, the family would continue to work in textile factories in Philadelphia just as they had in Żyrardów but without the strikes that were occurring at that time). In 1906, Antonina joined him with their teenaged daughter and their youngest. The following year, their three teen boys came with their older sister and her husband. Franciszka was now alone except for her son, Jan (and presumably his family). She was a widow, her parents had died in the few years after her husband, and even her mother-in-law died in January, 1906 at the age of 83.

But where there’s a will, there’s a way… In June, 1909, Franciszka made the journey to the United States to join her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren. She sailed aboard the SS Vaderland from Antwerp, Belgium to New York City and arrived through Ellis Island on June 21. She was 69 years old, and she made the journey alone. It is documented on the passenger arrival record that the authorities detained her at Ellis Island and required an examination with a special board of inquiry for “senility” before they allowed her to enter the country, because they feared she would be a “Likely Public Charge”. Her physical description: 4’10”, limping, with dark hair and blue eyes.

Franciszka lived with her daughter’s family in Eden, PA (now Langhorne, PA) in Bucks County. For the 1910 census, she is listed as the “head of the household”. She would have gotten to know four of her young great-grandchildren, including my grandfather, before she passed away on 29 April 1914 at the age of 73. She is my only great-great-great-grandparent to come to the United States.

“Do not be afraid! Open, in deed, open wide the doors to Christ!” ~ Blessed Pope John Paul II, October 22, 1978, homily at the Mass beginning his pontificate

In honor of the Catholic Church’s “Year of Faith” which opens on October 11, 2012, genealogy bloggers whose ancestors were members of the Catholic Faith are celebrating by showing some of the churches that inspired or comforted our ancestors or were otherwise part of their lives. Since the majority of my ancestors were Catholic (and so am I), there are a lot of churches in my family’s history. For this celebration, I chose to highlight one because I had the opportunity to walk through these doors of faith on a trip to Poland in 2001. The photos below are from that journey.

St. John the Baptist ( św. Jana Chrzciciela) church in Mszczonów, Poland

My great-great grandmother, Antonina Rozalia Pluta, was from the town of Mszczonów, Błoński Powiat, Warsaw Gubernia, Kingdom of Poland. She was baptized in św. Jana Chrzciciela (St. John the Baptist) Church in 1863 and married Józef Pater there in 1885. Antonina’s parents, Ludwik Pluta and Franciszka Wojciechowska, were also baptized there (1843 for Ludwik and 1840 for Franciszka) and married there in 1862. The earliest record I have found for an ancestral sacrament at the church is the baptism of my 4th great-grandfather, Jan Wojciechowski (Franciszka’s father), in 1816 – although, as you will see below, the church in 1816 was not the same as the church in 1863 through today.

The church has a very long history, as does the town. From the town’s website, I learned that the first church on the grounds was erected at the turn of the Twelfth Century and made from wood. In the years 1430-1440 Prince Ziemowit IV built a brick church, which was completely destroyed in the fire of the city in 1603. It was rebuilt 1660, but burned down again in 1800. For many years after this fire, church services were held in a wooden chapel. The current brick church was built between 1861-1864. The cornerstone was blessed by the Archbishop of Warsaw on 11 May 1862 and the church was dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

A plaque on the church listing the names of the pastors from 1658-1982.

Five Things About My Grandfather I Learned from Genealogical Records:

All four of my grandparents were first generation Americans; however, my grandfather Henry Pater was the only grandparent to actually know his own grandparents, Joseph Pater (1864-1945) and Antonina Pluta Pater (1863-1938). He also is the only grandparent to have met one of his great-grandparents, his great-grandmother Francziska Anna Wojciechowska Pluta, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1909 and died in 1914 at the age of 74.

Henry was five years younger than his wife – although I would not know this from the marriage license alone since they both lied about their age. At the time of their marriage, Henry was 17 and Mae was 22, but the record says he is 22 and she is 21! He is also the third generation Pater male to be younger than his wife: his father Louis was 2 years younger than his mother, and his grandfather was 1 year younger than his grandmother.

The young age at Henry’s marriage is likely why he was married “twice” – my grandparents lived a few doors away from each other. After their civil marriage, they each went home to their parents’ house. Neither set of parents were happy when the news was eventually announced. They had the marriage blessed in a Catholic Church at the insistance of the bride’s father, Joseph Zawodny (I didn’t learn this fact from the records, but I did learn the addresses and the dates of the marriages.)

Henry became a very young grandfather. His first grandson, my cousin Richard “Ricky” Zukowski, was born in 1951 when Henry was 39 years old. Sadly, Ricky died at the age of 15 months. Henry would have to wait another seven years to become a grandfather again.

Records alone would have left me confused about Henry’s middle name if my mother didn’t know the truth. On his birth record, his name is Henry M. Pater. His baptismal record lists no middle name. His marriage record indicates the “M” is for Marion. His death record mistakenly lists it as Martin. However the marriage record, in his own hand, is the correct name.

Henry and Mae Pater

Five Things About My Grandfather I Learned from My Mom:

Henry worked as a knitter in hoisery mills, and was quite accomplished at it. He preferred working the night shift when he could operate several knitting machines at once.

When Henry was introduced to his future son-in-law (my father) for the first time, he said, “Call me ‘Hank'” which caused my mother and grandmother to double over in laughter because he had never, ever used that nickname before.

Henry called my mother “Chick” – apparently a nickname he got from a book. His other daughter Joan was called “Jub”. And his wife, my grandmother, was “Killer”.

Henry liked to read. I wonder if that’s where I got the reading gene? I wish I knew what sorts of books he liked to read.

Although Henry was born in the United States, he learned Polish from his parents, aunts & uncles, and grandparents. His wife Mae also learned Polish from her Polish-born parents. When the couple married and had children, they frequently communicated in Polish if they wanted to discuss something without their girls listening in on the conversation.

Back on August 9, 2009, Randy Seaver presented another Saturday Night Genealogical Fun (SNGF) challenge for readers to document their sixteen great-great-grandparents. I responded to the call with Sweet Sixteen: My Great-Great Grandparents. But, my tree was a little bare in some spots. I did not know at least 4 names and was “iffy” on two more. In fact, I only had documented birth and death dates for 3 of the 16.

A few months later, I was able to update my list with A Sweeter “Sweet Sixteen” – I had documented proof of 4 of the missing names. Then, last year I attended the NGS conference in Salt Lake City and found a lot of additional information that was previously missing with many marriage and birth records.

Today, Randy posed a very similar SNGF challenge. I decided to take a look at my list to see what I had learned in the two years since my original post. While I still have a lot of research to do, I was able to add 4 of the “unknown” birth details into the “documented” category (which means I know the names of 8 more great-great-greats!). A bigger challenge was correcting the place names. Rather than simply put the name of the town and the current country, I attempted to figure out the town, county or equivalent, state or equivalent, and country name at the time of the event. For my Polish ancestors, whose borders changed more frequently than I can keep track of, Steve Danko’s post on Describing Place Names in Poland was invaluable. I hope I got them right!

My ancestry remains the same as calculated two years ago: 62.5% Polish (the guy born in what is now Belarus is ethnically Polish), 25% German (technically Bavarian since Germany did not exist as a unified state until 1871), and 12.5% presumed Czech (Bohemian). Thanks, Randy, now those blanks are really bothering me!

This edition of the Carnival of Central & Eastern European Genealogy highlights “The Village of my Ancestor”. Several of my ancestors came from very small villages in Poland. In fact, my great-grandmother Rozalia Kizeweter Piątkowski was born in Mała Wieś, which translates into English as “small village.” Eighteen villages in Poland bear this name, so hers is also called Mała Wieś Promna because it is located in Promna borough. The village was so small, that according to Słownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego there were only 7 houses and 71 inhabitants in 1827 (that’s a lot of people per house!).

But, there’s not much to write about such a tiny village, so instead I’d like to introduce you to another village of another ancestor, Antonina Rozalia Pluta Pater, who was born on 11 June 1863 in Mszczonów. The title of this post was my first introduction to the name of the town, which came from the birth record of Antonina. The record begins, as all vital records did at that time, with the words “This happened in the town of Mszczonów…”

Mszczonów is located nearly in the center of Poland in Żyrardów County and the Masovian Voivodeship. As of 2004, the town had 6,310 inhabitants and could be described as a small city rather than a village. Mszczonów has a very old history. It was first mentioned in a document written in 1245 by Duke Konrad I, but it is believed that a settlement existed in the area from the mid-twelfth century. A local church was established by 1324. In 1377, Mszczonów was declared a city by Ziemowit III, Duke of Mazovia.

The area was heavily forested and was directly on a trade route that went north to south through Poland. Initially this location attacted residents, but in the 16th century the entire town became the property of the Radziejowski family, owners of adjacent Radziejowice. Under the family’s control, the town was not developed. Other factors that stagnated development of the town were the wars with Sweden from 1655-1657 and the partitioning of Poland that began in 1795. Because of the wars, the population was reduced and the lack of craftsmen reduced trade with neighboring towns. The situation changed during the partition years of 1795-1918, when Mszczonów fell under Russian rule. Slowly the town’s population grew, and by the early nineteenth century the town was one of the largest in Mazovia.

This is the time that my ancestors lived in Mszczonów. My 2nd great-grandmother was Antonina Rozalia Pluta Pater, born on 11 June 1863. Her father, Ludwik Pluta, was a 19-year-old shoemaker whose father and grandfather were also shoemakers from Mszczonów. Antonina’s mother, Franziszka Wojciechowski, was also 19 and the daughter of another shoemaker from the town. Both Antonina and her mother would eventually leave Mszczonów to immigrate to the United States. The records for Mszczonów held by the LDS only go back to 1808, which is not far enough back to find the birth record for Ludwik and Franziska’s grandparents who were all born around 1795-1800. The Polish National Archives may have older records (availability can be checked online, but the site is down for service as of this writing).

Here are some photos from my visit to Mszczonów in 2001:

St. John the Baptist church in Mszczonów

A plaque on the church listing the names of the pastors from 1658-1982. Rev. Filipowicz baptized Antonina's father in 1843.

[ Submitted for the 27th edition of the Carnival of Central & Eastern European Genealogy: The Village of My Ancestor ]

Meaning/Origin – The name PLUTA (hear it pronounced in Polish) is derived from the Polish word pluć, meaning “to spit”. Pluta means “spitter” or bad weather! (Source: Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings, Second Edition by William F. Hoffman)

Countries of Origin– The surname PLUTA is Polish. According to the World Names Profiler, Poland has the highest frequency per million residents with this name at 385 per million. Germany is next at almost 15 per million, with Canada at 8 and the United States at 6.75.

Spelling Variations– PLUTA is the most common variation of the name, but other names derived from the same root include PLUCIK, PLUCIŃSKI, PLUTECKI, PLUTOWSKI, AND PLUWAK. (Source: Polish Surnames: Origins and Meanings, Second Edition by William F. Hoffman)

Surname Maps – The following map illustrates the frequency of the PLUTA surname in Poland. There are about 15,258 people with the surname PLUTA spread out over 320 different counties and cities. The greatest concentration are in the city of Warsaw (Warszawa) with over 400 residents.

Famous Individuals with the Surname – Wilhelm Pluta (1910-1986) was a bishop in Poland who is now a candidate for sainthood in the Catholic church.

My Family – This is the surname of my great-great-grandmother. My Pluta family comes from the town of Mszczonów, Poland. My earliest ancestor so far with this name is Ludwik Pluta, born around 1790-1800 and deceased by his son’s marriage in 1842. He married Helena Redłowska. My line of descent is as follows: Ignacy (b. 1821) > Ludwik (b. 26 Aug 1843 – d. by 1885) > daughter Antonina Rozalia (b. 11 Jun 1863, Mszczonów – d. 12 Dec 1938, Philadelphia, PA, USA). Antonina had at least one brother to carry on the family name, Jan Pluta. He was living in Żyrardów at the time of his mother’s immigration to the US in 1909.

Antonina Pluta married Józef Pater in August 1885. They immigrated to the U.S. with their seven children from 1905-1907. More information is found on the Pater Family Page.

My Research Challenges -I need to continue my research. On a trip to Poland, the priest at the church in Mszczonów was unable to find the baptismal record of Ignacy in 1821, which is the presumed year based on his marriage record from 1842. The Family History Library has microfilmed church records for this town from 1808 to 1877, so I need to take a closer look myself. The records are not early enough to find Ignacy’s father’s (Ludwik) birth, but I may be able to find the marriage record for Ludwik and Helena Pluta.

Since today is “Labor Day” in the United States, I wanted to take a look at my ancestors’ occupations. Some of the jobs are still performed in much the same way today as they were in my ancestors’ times. My grandfather James Pointkouski (1910-1980) was born in the right century to be a truck driver, and the medium-size delivery trucks he drove are quite similar to those used by his fellow Teamsters today. My great-grandfather Joseph Bergmeister (1873-1927) was a baker, an occupation that has changed very little over centuries – in fact, today his cousins are still making wonderful things in the same bakery his uncle founded in 1868. My carpenter ancestors, 4th great-grandfather Karl Nigg (1767-1844) and 5th great-grandfather Johann Baptiste Höck (1700’s), would be in as much demand today as they were back then. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a good carpenter these days? Similarly, Karl’s father and grandfather, Phillip Nigg ( ?-1774) and Martin Nigg (or Nick), were masons – bricklayers. The construction business will always be in demand!

But many other jobs of my ancestors no longer exist in the same way. Some of the factory jobs of my 20th Century ancestors, such as the Pater family who all worked in clothing factories as weavers, still exist – but you won’t find the industry as prevalent in the United States as it was when they were working. Many of the other occupations of my ancestors have become outdated with modern times. For example, one of my 5th great-grandfathers, Franciszek Świerczyński of Mszczonów, Poland, was a carriage-maker in the 1800’s. Since carriages have been replaced by cars, I imagine that he’d be in another line of work today.

I have shoemakers on both sides of my family. My 4th great-grandfather, Ignacy Pluta (1821-?) from Mszczonów, Poland (he married the daughter of the carriage-maker), was one as was his father, Ludwik Pluta. In Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Bavaria, I have traced over six generations of shoemakers from my Echerer line. The first Echerer son to be something other than a shoemaker was Karl (1846-1880s), who took up the occupation of his mason great-grandfather instead. While we still need shoes today, their construction has changed. Some shoes today are still hand-crafted with leather, probably using the same methods my ancestors used. Most shoes are mass-produced, and it would be hard to make a living as a shoemaker today unless you were a factory worker.

The more you research your genealogy and the farther back you go, the more interesting occupations you’ll find. Some will be “modern”, like my innkeeper ancestor. Others, like the glassmaker, still exist but today the job is more of a “craftsman” trade or art that is more specialized. Again, modern machinery makes many of the things our ancestors once made by hand.

One of the more unique occupations in my family history is that of my 3rd great-grandfather, Franz Xaver Fischer (1813-?) from Agelsberg in Bavaria. He was listed as a söldner, which translates as mercenary. Mercenary? I was intrigued and pictured a soldier of fortune, hired out to neighboring countries. Until I learned the Bavarian meaning of the word… A sölde is a small house with a garden. For tax purposes, there were different designations for farmers. A bauer owned a whole farm, a Halbbauer owned half, and a Viertelbauer owned a quarter. Then there was the söldner, who owned either 1/8, 1/16, or 1/32 of a farm. My mercenary was a poor farmer! Well, not too poor – there was a further designation called häusler – they owned a house, but not the land.

Let’s salute all of our hard-working ancestors today. I wonder what they’d think about some of today’s job titles. “A program manager? What the heck is that?”

“Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.” ~ Mark Twain

The 52nd edition of the Carnival of Genealogy focuses on the topic of “age”:Take some time to look over the data that you have collected on members of your family tree, and share a story of age with us … With the understanding that “age is often a state of mind”, share your family story about someone whose story stands out because of their age, either young or old.

I am one of those people that will read an obituary for any centenarian. I am amazed by their lives, simply because of their sheer length and how much they saw the world change during that time. Some graduated from high school and college before my parents were born, and many spent my entire lifetime as a widow or widower. Their lives fascinate me, and I really wish I was related to one of these long-living people because it would make a great story. My friend’s grandmother lived to 101! But, as you will see in my musings on age, none of my ancestors have made it that long (yet). I have no ancestors who climbed Mt. Everest or graduated from Harvard at advanced ages, nor do we have any child prodigies either…yet. But, hopefully I’ve found just a few fascinating “age” facts among my seemingly boring ancestors that make them “stand out” in the crowd.

Who Lived the Longest?

My Ancestor Who Lived the Longest is my grandmother, Margaret Bergmeister Pointkouski. She died at the age of 84 years 9 months, beating my other grandmother by six years. My grandfathers died young by comparison at 69 and 60 years old. I do not have all of the exact dates for my entire family tree, but I was surprised to discover that of all those “greats”, none lived as long as Margaret (even though some came close).

Margaret’s older sister, Marie, wins the distinction of being my Collateral Relative Who Lived the Longest. She died in 1990 a few weeks past her 92nd birthday. She will not hold the title for much longer though, because my Oldest Living Collateral Relative is “Aunt Dot”, my other grandmother’s younger sister, who is currently 92 years, 6 months, and counting!

While these older relatives all lived in the 20th Century, I was surprised to discover that some of the ancestors further back in my family tree actually lived much longer than some of my other “modern” ancestors. For example, my grandmother Margaret far outlived her own parents. Her father Joseph Bergmeister died at the age of 54, and her mother Marie Echerer was only 43. Yet each of her parents had ancestors who survived to what I thought were very old ages for the times. Even though her father Joseph lived longer than his own father by more than ten years, his great-grandparents lived to the ages of 77 and 75 in the mid-1800s. His wife Marie’s great-grandfather also lived to 77 around the same time.

Variable Marriage Ages

My research has shown that marriage customs vary from country to country. In Bavaria, the groom was usually in his mid-to-late 30s – or even his early 40s – while the bride was usually in her 20s. I think this was mostly due to the long period of training for craftsmen to become a full member of a guild, which would then give them the economic capability to support a family. In fact, the guild required that a newly professed member become married shortly after being accepted into the guild or they were disqualified. Many young women died in childbirth, so the widower would seek to marry another young woman – in some cases, this further increased the age discrepancy. If the woman was strong and survived many pregnancies, sometimes the men would die in their 50s or 60s – leaving a widow with many small mouths to feed. Further research will tell me if these ages were common only to craftsmen – my assumption is that farmers married much younger than their 30s!

In Poland, the marriage custom was very different. My research has shown that most couples married when they were in their early 20s, or even at 18 or 19. The Ancestor Who Married at the Youngest Age is my Polish great-grandfather, Louis Pater, who married his almost 19-year-old bride the day after his 17th birthday (here in the U.S.).

Your Mamma was So Old…

While the media might make you believe that “older” mothers, meaning women over 40, are “new” to the modern age, this isn’t quite true. My “Oldest Mother” Ancestor is my great-grandmother, Rozalia Kizoweter Piontkowska, who delivered my grandfather in 1910 just weeks before her 44th birthday!

But I have some even crazier mammas in my family tree… Jakob Bergmeister married Anna Daniel in 1835 when they were 30 and 23 – young by Bavarian marriage standards. They proceeded to have 15 children in 19 years – Anna was 24 at the birth of her first child and 43 at the birth of her last! Infant mortality was very high though – at least 7 died as infants. Of the rest, the fate of 5 are not certain, but 3 others lived to adulthood. As for the parents, Jakob died at the age of 65 in 1870. Anna died one year later at the age of 58 (probably from exhaustion!).

Maybe Jakob was trying to model his prolific marriage on that of his own parents, Joseph Bergmeister and Kreszens Zinsmeister. When they married in 1800, Joseph was 37 and Kreszens was considerably younger at 23. They started having children right away. In the end, they had 12 children in 16 years, with Kreszens 23 years old for the first and 39 for the last. Of these children, I can not yet account for the fate of 8, but there are 2 confirmed infant deaths and at least 2 who lived to enjoy adulthood.

Age is Mostly a State of Mind

I don’t know much else about her other than “vital statistic” dates and a few other facts, but based on numbers alone I’d have to award my 3rd great-grandmother, Franciszka Wojciechowska Pluta, the Most Amazing Feat for an Older Woman award. At the “young” age of 69, she boarded a passenger ship to travel from Poland to the United States, alone. According to the passenger arrival record, she was 4’10” and limping, but she made the journey! She spent those last years in the U.S. living with her daughter’s family, and she died at the age of 73 in 1914.

So there you have it – just a few “facts of age” from Donna’s family tree. While I don’t have any centenarians, you really can’t say “never” when it comes to genealogy. Who knows what I’ll discover next as I record and transcribe dates? And who knows how long the current generation will live? We might just have a centenarian in the family yet!

Ever since my first transatlantic trip in 1985, I’ve been stricken with the travel bug.There is no cure.Symptoms include a desire to wander to far-away places, hopeless daydreaming, and a joy brought on by traipsing on planes and trains.I did not think my condition was genetic as no one else in my immediate family seems to have this disease.But then I realized that about a hundred years ago, my ancestors had the ultimate travel experience. It was no Grand Tour though…It certainly wasn’t a vacation to travel thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean to begin a brand new life.In most cases, they never returned to their homeland again or saw the family that stayed behind.

While the immigrant experience in itself is quite inspiring no matter who made the journey, I am especially fascinated by my female ancestors and relatives that made this trip-of-a-lifetime.In every instance they either traveled alone or with small children to meet their husbands or other family members who were already in the United States.I can only imagine what this experience was like.

First, the hard decision was made to pack up, leave their homes behind, and travel to a foreign land – not just temporarily, but most likely forever. I stressed over moving ten miles away from my childhood home! What were the conditions like in Germany or Poland/Russia that inspired these women to leave?Was the economy bad?Little or no chance of employment?What did they hear about America that made it seem better?How long did it take to afford the move across the pond?

The next difficult part of the journey was the separation that couples endured.If you were married, usually the husband made the journey first.Presumably it was necessary for the man to find housing and employment, and then save money to send for the rest of the family’s trip.

When it came time for the women to travel, the first part of the journey involved getting to the port.In my family, several ports were used including Hamburg and Bremen in Germany, Southampton and Liverpool in England, and Antwerp in Belgium.I don’t have any first-hand accounts of their lives or of their journeys to America, but I know that travel back then was not as quick and easy as it is today (TSA rules and flight delays notwithstanding, travel really is “easy” today by comparison).So it’s my guess that even this land-based part of the trip may have been complicated. Fortunately, the railways in Europe were probably as good as they are today. But, life was different.No one had cell phones to keep in touch up to the minute.There were no baby carriages, so toddlers walked and babies were carried.My guess is that the majority of immigrants came with one suitcase at most – travelers today probably take more for an overnight trip then our ancestors carried for the trip of their lives.

The time at sea wasn’t exactly a cruise ship experience!The vast majority of immigrants, including every one of my ancestors, came over in third class steerage on steamships.If the weather was good, folks could go up on deck to pass the time.The journey, at least during the years that my ancestors traveled, took about two weeks.After arriving through Ellis Island, not everyone was reunited with their families immediately. Today we complain about security or passport lines and slow baggage retrieval.Back then, the immigrants stood in line for processing.During the peak years that my ancestors came to the US, a busy port like New York at Ellis Island processed up to 5,000 immigrants a day!In addition to the processing time, occasionally immigrants were detained.If someone looked ill, they were kept for further examination.In some cases, the unlucky person or family was deported.Can you imagine finally arriving and you still can’t see your family?Or worse still, being told you can not enter the country?

Although these ladies weren’t travelers in the “pleasure travel” or vacation sense of the word, I find their stories to be amazing…even if they settled down in the US and never traveled more than ten miles for the rest of their lives.Here are some brief portraits of the courageous women travelers in my family:

1888 – Hilaire Bergmeister
Hilaire, my great-great-aunt, is my “premiere” female traveler both in terms of being the first as well as the gutsiest!She traveled to the US on the SS Friesland alone at the age of 23.She had no family here.That alone makes her journey truly impressive to me.I’ll write more about Hilaire and her life later this week for the next Carnival of Genealogy.

Marie Bergmeister, Munich, Germany, circa 1890-1900

1901 – Marie Bergmeister (nee Echerer)

My great-grandmother Marie is Hillaire’s sister-in-law, but they probably had never met until both were here in the US.Marie traveled from 13-27 June on the SS Kensington via Antwerp, which is 460 miles from her home in Pfaffenhofen an der Ilm, Germany.Marie was 26 when she made the journey with her 3-year-old daughter, Marie.They had not seen their husband and father, Joseph, for just over one year.

1903 – Wacława Zawodna (nee Slesinska)
My great-grandmother Wacława is my only ancestor to travel through the port of Philadelphia instead of Ellis Island.She sailed from Liverpool on the SS Westernland for two weeks in July.Just getting from Dobrosołowo, Poland to Liverpool was an amazing 1,100-mile trip!She was only 18 years old and traveled to meet her husband, Jozef Zawodny.He had been in the US for over a year, but the young couple had only just married weeks before he left Poland.One can imagine how anxious she was to see her new husband after such a long separation.Wacława would never see her parents again – parents who were quite unhappy with her marriage and apparently refused to communicate with her even by mail.She was the oldest daughter, and she would not see her four younger sisters for many years.In fact, when she left Poland, her youngest sister was only 2 years old!

1906 – Rosalia Piontkowska (nee Kizoweter)
Great-grandmother Rosalia gets extra credit in the “gutsy” category for traveling with her 3-year-old son, Jozef, and her 1-year-old daughter, Janina, on the SS Armenia from Hamburg to New York, arriving on 10 November.She wasn’t a young mother either at age 41, and she hadn’t seen her husband Jan for over six months. I have no photos of Rosalia, but her passenger list record describes her as 5’3″ with brown hair and blue eyes.I try to picture her juggling Janina and a suitcase while trying to hold on to her toddler at the same time!If that weren’t brave enough, the journey from Warsaw, Poland to Hamburg, Germany was about 540 miles!

1906 – Antonina Pater (nee Pluta)
The Pater family arrived in the US in stages.My 2nd great-grandmother Antonina, age 42, and two of her daughters, 18-year-old Regina and 2-year-old Victoria, arrived second, which was nearly 18 months after their husband and father Jozef settled here.She would have to wait nearly a year to see another daughter and three young sons, and it would be nearly three years before she would see her mother again.Antonina and her daughters traveled on the SS Blücher from Hamburg, about 520 miles from her home in Żyrardów.I have no photos of her or these daughters, but the passenger list offers descriptions.Antonina was 5’2 3/8″, she had a sallow complexion, brown hair, blue eyes, and a wrinkled forehead (as any mother separated from her children would have!). Regina was 5’3 1/2″, fair, with blond hair, gray eyes, and a round face, and little Victoria had her big sister’s coloring.

Frances and Paul Nieginski, Philadelphia, PA, circa 1940s

1907 – Franciszka Nieginski (nee Pater)

My great-great-aunt Franciszka (Frances) and her husband Pawel (Paul) were responsible for bringing my great-grandfather and his brothers to the US since their parents were already here.They traveled on the SS Grosser Kurfurst in August.Franciszka was only 20 herself, and she brought 17-year-old Wacław, 14-year-old Ludwik, and 12-year-old Stefan with her since they would not be allowed entry alone.Because Wacław suffered from some sort of illness (short left leg and a deformed chest according to the passenger list), the entire group was detained for two days for further examination, which must have been quite stressful to all.

1909 – Elizabeth Miller
My great-grandmother, known in her native language as Elżbieta Müller, was 18 when she made the long journey from Żyrardów, Poland, to New York on the SS President Grant.Not yet married, she traveled alone and met her brother, Emil.My only photo of her much older, but I’ve heard she was quite attractive in her youth.The list describes her as 4’11” with a fair complexion, light brown hair, and gray eyes.She would marry a slightly younger man, Ludwik (Louis) Pater, a little more than a year later.Both were from Zyrardow, but he came to the US almost two years before her trip.

1909 – Franciszka Pluta (nee Wojciechowska)
How I wish I had a photo of Franciszka! She is my 3rd great-grandmother, and the oldest ancestor to have made the journey to America at age 69.And she traveled alone!She is the mother of Antonina Pater, and she joins her daughter’s family after a 2-day wait in detention for a medical exam.They determined she was an “LPC” or Likely Public Charge, probably because of her age and/or health.The list describes her as 4’10”, limping, with dark hair, blue eyes, and a dark complexion.What an amazing journey for a woman her age!She lived with her daughter’s family until her death in April 1914.

As mentioned above, Wacława Zawodna (nee Slesinska) had four sisters that came to the US.I haven’t yet located the arrival of Jozefa, but Marianna, Janina, and Zofia all arrived together on the SS Adriatic from Southampton in October 1920.The sisters were 24, 22, and 19 years old, and their parents had died the year before – within two days of each other on 30 December 1918 and 01 January 1919.They are coming to join their sister Jozefa and her husband in McKeesport, PA.Although they pass by big sister Wacława, who had been here for 17 years by then, the five later reconnected since I have photos of the group together.

So there you have it…some courageous travels of some amazing women.I remember the first thrill of traveling alone, the fear at being in a place where no one spoke my language, and the joyful excitement of setting off on a journey to a new place.The trip that these women made wasn’t for vacation, but was it thrilling, fearful, and joyous all at the same time?I’d like to think so, and I’d like to thank them for their inspiring courage to make that trip and begin a new life here in America.

For more information on the immigrant experience, see the following sites:

Name days, which are the church’s feast day of the saint that bears one’s name, have long been considered important in many Catholic cultures.Even today in Poland, a person’s name day, called imieniny, is celebrated in lieu of or in addition to a birthday.But in the past, the name day and the birthday were the same day, because Catholic Polish tradition held that you actually named the child after the saint who held the feast on the day the child was born or baptized!Sometimes the saint’s name was used if the feast was within a few days of the child’s birth and not the same day.

My family isn’t one for tradition, but I was quite surprised when I noticed this naming trend with some of my Polish families.Józef PATER ( 1864-1945 ) and Antonina PLUTA ( 1863-1938 ) had seven children.I don’t have birth dates for the two oldest, but the others proved the “name day” theory.

Child’s Name

Day of Birth

Saint’s Feast Day

Ewa

24 Dec

22 Dec

Wacław

28 Sep

28 Sep

Ludwik

24 Aug

25 Aug

Stefan

02 Sep

02 Sep

Wiktoria

16 Dec

23 Dec

Since the family obviously took this tradition to heart, I probably could easily find the birth records for the two oldest girls without much effort – I’d simply check the dates near the feast days of Sts. Regina and Franciszka.What’s interesting to note is that all of the family members were born in Poland, and the tradition did not continue with their own children as far as I can tell.Of the children, I only have detailed descendant information on my great-grandfather, Ludwik.Despite the fact that his wife, Elżbieta MILLER (1891-1972) has a birthday on St. Elżbieta’s feast in the same way that he owes his name to his birthday, they did not carry this tradition on with their own five children.

I was curious if this was simply a quirk of this one family or not, so I checked a different side of my family tree, the ZAWODNY family.Interestingly, I found the same thing with few exceptions.Józef ZAWODNY (1880-1944) birthday was on St. Józef’s feast.His wife, Wacława ŚLESINSKI (1885-1956), does not share the feast of her patron saint, but four of her seven siblings do.Of the couple’s own six children, all born in the US from 1904 through 1916, four out of six match.I may not have the most up-to-date version of the Church’s liturgical calendar as it existed during that time period either.From what I can tell, these children didn’t follow the Polish tradition with their offspring either.

Does this hold true for every Catholic Polish family?No, of course not.But, if you see it with one or more children, then chances are it isn’t just “chance” and it can provide a clue as to other birth dates in the family.For a listing of names and a chronological listing of feasts, see the Poland Gen Web’s list of common Polish first names. Also, if you really want to know everything there is to know about Polish first names, I highly recommend First Names of the Polish Commonwealth: Origins & Meanings by William “Fred” Hoffman and George W. Helon.

Why did Poles follow this tradition?Was it an expression of their Catholic faith, or just a cultural tradition?I can’t answer that for my own family, but I’d like to think it was a little of both.But just imagine if that tradition were revived in the US today!Consider the possibilities – wouldn’t this save expecting parents from one more thing to worry about?There’s no use arguing over baby names, whether or not to use a name from his side or her side, the name of a deceased relative, or the latest celebrity fad-name.Just wait until the child arrives, look at a church calendar, and there you go – the decision is made for you!There is some risk, of course.Just two days separate your chances of being either Adam or Zenon.Or Zofia and Wacława.But I think it’s a charming glimpse into our ancestors’ lives.Today, feast days and name days are still celebrated of course.My nephew’s name day is December 6th, the feast of St. Nicholas, even though his birthday is in June.But if we lived one hundred years ago in Poland (or had Polish parents here in the US), his name would be Paul!